Beef up security for state ministers, assistant ministers - Fatimah

Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said there should be no compromise on safety, especially when carrying out their public duty such as attending functions that finished late at night or visiting their state constituencies in Sarawak's interior.

"Issues like security are something that have been bothering our mind all the time and, unlike federal ministers and deputy ministers, we (state ministers) do not have bodyguards or police escorts," she told reporters after launching a cookery book "Indian Flavours from Sarawak, Borneo," authored by Datin Ruby Sengupta, the wife of retired Sarawak General Hospital surgeon Datuk Dr P.R. Sengupta, here.

Commenting on the incident in which culture and heritage assistant minister Liwan Lagang was robbed of his four-wheel-drive vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner, at knife-point by two men at Kota Sentosa here at 6.10 am yesterday, Fatimah said it was a wake-up call that the security of public figures should not be taken for granted.

Asked if state cabinet members should carry firearms as a precautionary measure, she said that was the individual's choice.

Fatimah said she was confident, however, that the relevant authorities would provide police escorts upon request should the need arise.

"Personally, I feel awkward when escorted because I do not like to draw attention to myself. Having police escorts (sometimes) can annoy the people and other road users but, from the point of safety, that is a different story," she said.

In her speech, she said food was one of the factors that could unite the people, regardless of their cultural and religious backgrounds, and added that it was a trend that should be inculcated among the younger generation.

Apart from the tourism tag of culture, adventure and nature (CAN), Sarawak's unique food was also another feature that attracted people to the state, she said.